Spacemen 3
Spacemen 3 | |
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| File:Spacemen3.jpg | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Rugby, Warwickshire |
| Years active | 1982-1991 |
Spacemen 3 were an English space rock band who formed in 1982 and whose career spanned from the post-punk to Acid House eras. This highly influential group, whose shoegazing sound would eventually dominate the underground, consisted of the core of Jason Pierce and Peter Kember (Pierce sometimes credited as J. Spaceman and Kember usually known as Sonic Boom), who formed the group in Rugby, Warwickshire having met at art college. Other members of what would become a fluid line-up over the years included Pete Bain (Bassman, also of The Darkside), Natty Brooker, Sterling Roswell (Rosco), Will Carruthers and Jonny Mattock (also of Slipstream). After several years of local gigs and club nights, they recorded their first album in 1986 on Glass Records. Sound Of Confusion attracted a loyal fanbase; its follow-up, The Perfect Prescription, expanded the group's core of fans and is generally considered their masterpiece.
In 1989 Playing With Fire, which expanded on the psychedelic and drone themes of the earlier albums, was released. Its second single, 'Revolution', reached #1 on the UK independent chart. But soon after, a combination of personnel changes, drug problems and inter-band tension (especially between Kember and Pierce) began to break the band apart. Recurring, released in 1991 was their last proper album, though its recording reflected the split between Pierce and Kember as each recorded their own side of the album in different studios, with a cover of Mudhoney's 'When Tomorrow Hits' to separate them . It was their most popular release, but by its release Kember and Pierce had already formed new bands, Spectrum and Spiritualized, respectively. The final conflict that contributed to the split was Pierce's decision to release a cover of The Troggs' 'Any Way That You Want Me', as the first Spiritualized single, which Kember had been wanting to cover for years.
Since the break up there have been a stream of semi-legitimate albums, early demos and live recordings, many of which have been issued by the Kember-affiliated Space Age Recordings. Highlights include Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music, a 45 minute drone piece performed in front of a live audience, Forged Prescriptions, a collection of The Perfect Prescription demos and alternate versions (Kember claims in the liner notes that the alternate versions reproduce the layers of guitars they recorded but later removed because they felt they'd never be able to reproduce them live), and the band's singles compilation, which is perhaps the best introduction to the breadth of their work.
In 1998, a tribute album was released on Rocket Girl, which included tracks by Mogwai and Low. Kember's Spectrum has toured under the banner 'Songs The Spacemen Taught Us', while Pierce routinely includes their songs in his Spiritualized set. In 2004, US journalist Erik Morse published his account of the band's life and work, Dreamweapon.
Discography
Albums
- Sound Of Confusion (1986)
- The Perfect Prescription (1987)
- Performance (1988)
- Playing With Fire (1989)
- Recurring (1991)
- Translucent Flashbacks - The Singles (1995)
Live, Demo, or Unofficial Albums
- Taking Drugs (To Make Music To Take Drugs To) (1990) ("Sound of Confusion" demos)
- Dreamweapon: An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music (1990) (A live drone Performance)
- Losing Touch With Your Mind (1991) (A collection of alternate versions)
- For All The Fucked Up Children (1995) (A collection of very early demos)
- Spacemen Are Go! (1995) (A live album culled from "Playing with Fire"-era live shows)
- Revolution Or Heroin (1995) (Another collection of outakes and alternate versions)
- Forged Prescriptions (2004) (Perfect Prescription-era demos and alternate versions)